CN110536758A - Repair kit for automotive paint and method of repairing automotive paint using said repair kit - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a repair kit for automotive paint, comprising in particular at least two marker pens, each comprising a reservoir having an opening, which can be arranged on the opening of the reservoir to close the opening of the reservoir. A valve, and a marker tip, wherein: the reservoir is filled with paint; the valve is reversibly openable by the application of pressure, thereby allowing paint to be drained from the reservoir; the marker tip is connected to the valve so that application of a The pressure on the marker tip is transmitted to the valve and paint can be delivered to the marker tip through the valve opening; and the marker tip is designed so that paint delivered to the marker tip can pass through the tip and transfer to the damaged area to be repaired . One marker contains paint that creates the color or effect, while the second marker contains UV-curable clear paint. The present invention also relates to a method of repairing automotive paint using the repair kit.

Description

Repair kits for automotive coatings and repairs using said repair kits How to repair car paint

The present invention relates to a repair kit for automotive paint systems and a method for repairing automotive paint systems using the repair kit. The repair kit allows to achieve an ideal balance between fast and efficient repair on the one hand, and satisfactory, high quality and durable repair results on the other hand.

current technology

Multicoat paint systems are known in principle from the automotive industry and are generally applied to metal or plastic substrates (especially in the field of automotive accessories).

In the field of painting metal substrates, viewed from the metal substrate, these multi-layer paint systems include electrocoats, coatings applied directly on electrocoats, mostly called surfacers, at least one Coatings containing colour pigments and/or special effect pigments, commonly referred to as basecoats, as well as clear coats. Instead of separate basecoats and clearcoats, another possibility that may be encountered is a single coat, which at this time is referred to as a colorant topcoat.

Similar paint configurations are encountered in the field of plastic substrates, however here, by way of example, a specific primer-surfacer is applied rather than an electrocoat, and the plastic substrate is usually pre-treated before the coating is applied treatment, such as flame treatment.

The basic functions and properties of the various coatings are likewise known and do not require any more detailed explanation.

During the correct use of the car, the multi-coat paint system is subjected to enormous stress. Especially at higher velocities, small sharp particles such as small stones or loose debris are often thrown by the vehicle or the vehicle in front and strike the coated surface with a relatively high relative velocity. What often happens here is the local removal of the paint (pebble impact) extending into the deeper layers of the multicoat paint system. Damaged areas are visually identifiable as depressions that are hue changes.

Scratches are another typical type of damage to vehicle paint systems. Based on statistics alone, it is likely that the paint system was accidentally exposed to the pressure of sharp and hard objects such as keys, shopping trolleys, watches, etc., resulting in paint removal. Again, this material removal extends to deeper layers to a degree determined by sharpness and applied pressure. A change in gloss in the damaged area is visually recognizable, and where the damaged area is darker, there is a change in hue.

Known repair solutions for such damaged areas include repairs in suitable workshops, where refinish paint systems are applied by specialists and are costly in terms of time and materials. The procedure at this point is to first match colors and/or special effects using appropriately complex and software-controlled fixtures, and/or compare colors and/or special effects with the aid of a color card (color fixture sheet) to determine what needs to be repaired The current color of the surface, read the appropriate formulation for that color, and after mixing the appropriate formulation and making any necessary fine-tuning of that formulation (and thus color/special effects), touch up. At this point, it is not only the large amount of time and materials themselves that are causing the high cost of the project, but of course the complex color matching appliances that the refinish paint manufacturer has to provide.

On the other hand, it is possible to do a proper repair in a very cheap and easy way by means of what is known in technical terms as a paint stick. These paint sticks are typically small volume bottles or containers with screw caps containing paint, wherein the cap has an integrated paint brush that extends into the paint in the closed state. Once the paint stick has been opened, the paint can then be applied by means of a paintbrush to the surface to be refinished. At this point, the paint is matched to the color of the original paint system with varying degrees of precision.

Although this repair can be achieved without the need for a repair shop, it also has significant disadvantages.

First, using a brush to apply paint to the surface to be repaired in a manner that produces a uniform surface requires a certain level of skill. In particular, there is a risk of applying excess material, which is subsequently difficult to remove. Curtaining is also very likely to occur. Second, the refinish paints obtained by this repair method generally have only very limited advantages in terms of perceived color and in terms of durability of the refinish paint. Under normal conditions, the patched area remains highly visible, even at great distances. Especially given the constant effects of weathering, it is nearly impossible to get a long-lasting or durable paint finish.

In various sectors of the automotive industry, e.g. in the case of large-scale maintenance operations on a large fleet of cars (the car rental industry), and sometimes also in cases where the car is planned to be sold as a used car after a suitable lease period (departure process) ), it is impractical to properly refinish painted systems using complex expert methods. On the other hand, the very low quality standards for repairs by means of known paint sticks are of course not sufficient.

Therefore, there is a need for a refinishing solution for automotive paint systems which on the one hand does not require very time-consuming and expensive expert refinishing steps with high material usage, while on the other hand ensures refinishing results of acceptable quality. This is the starting point of the present invention.

Technical solutions

A new refinish kit for automotive paint systems has been discovered that includes:

(1) at least one cleaning agent for application to damaged areas in automotive paint systems requiring repair,

(2) at least one cleaning cloth for absorbing the cleaning agent from (1) and any contamination present on the damaged area to be repaired,

(3) at least one appliance for roughening the damaged area in need of repair and for mechanically removing loose paint in and/or on the damaged area,

(4A) and (4B) at least two marker pens, each comprising:

(4.1) A liquid storage box with an opening,

(4.2) a valve that may be provided on the opening of the reservoir from (4.1) so as to close the opening of the reservoir, and

(4.3) Mark the nib,

in:

the reservoir contains paint,

The valve can be opened reversibly by applying pressure, allowing paint to be drained from the reservoir,

there is a connection between the marker tip and the valve such that the pressure exerted on the marker tip is transferred to the valve and paint can be delivered into the marker tip through the opening of the valve, and

The marker tip is designed so that the paint delivered into the marker tip can pass through the tip and transfer to the damaged area that needs to be repaired,

wherein the marker (4A) additionally comprises a paint providing color and/or special effects, and the marker (4B) comprises a UV-curable clear paint,

and

(5) At least one device for hardening the clearcoat from (4) by UV light irradiation.

The term "kit" means that the components present in the kit (ie, in this case, components (1)-(5)) remain available so that they can be used for repair in the proper order; (in this connection For example, see also the method of the present invention for refinishing an automotive paint system). Of course, for this purpose, the components (1)-(5) must be stored in a certain degree of spatial proximity to each other. However, the components do not necessarily have to remain available in great spatial proximity to each other (eg in separate storage units). However, this is preferred. Therefore, the components of the kit are preferably stored in separate storage units, such as boxes, and thus remain available in the repair method.

The new repair kit is suitable for automotive paint systems, that is, suitable for the repair of automotive paint systems. However, it can of course also be used for the repair of other paint systems.

The novel repair kit is provided by the present invention and is therefore also referred to as the repair kit of the present invention.

Also found is a method of repairing an automotive paint system using the repair kit of the present invention comprising the following steps in the stated sequence:

(i) applying the cleaner (1) to the damaged area in the automotive paint system to be repaired,

(ii) suck up the applied cleaning agent (1) and any contamination present on the damaged area to be repaired by means of a cleaning cloth (2),

(iii) roughening the damaged area to be repaired by means of the appliance (3) and mechanically removing any loose paint present in and/or on the damaged area,

(ivA) applying a paint providing color and/or special effects to the damaged area to be repaired with the aid of a marker (4A) and air drying the applied paint,

(ivB) applying the UV-curable clear coat with the aid of a marker (4B) to the applied paint providing color and/or special effects, and

(v) The applied clearcoat is hardened by means of UV light irradiation with the aid of the tool (5).

Said novel method is also provided by the present invention and is therefore also referred to as the method of the present invention.

The repair kits of the present invention and the methods of the present invention ensure a combination of resource efficient repairs and high quality repairs, as particularly required in the broad field of automotive repair operations.

describe

The repair kit of the present invention first comprises a cleaning agent (1), also referred to as a cleaning composition. The cleaning agent can in principle be any cleaning agent known for this purpose, in particular water-based cleaning compositions based on surfactants, thus examples are soaps and caustic solutions.

Furthermore, the repair kit includes a cleaning cloth (2). Again, any device known to those skilled in the art in this regard can be used here. Here, the cleaning cloth may comprise or consist of any material known for this purpose. Examples that may be mentioned are cotton, linen, and synthetic fiber materials based on polyester, polyacrylic or polyamide.

Furthermore, the repair kit includes means (3) for roughening the damaged area to be repaired and for mechanically removing loose paint in and/or on the damaged area. In particular, this can be one of the typical grinding tools whose surfaces comprise also known abrasives (chert, quartz, corundum, carborundum, garnet, especially corundum). Examples which may be mentioned are sandpaper or emery paper and polishing rods. A suitable polishing rod is preferably cylindrical, the diameter of the end of which is for example 1-3 mm, the length of which is for example 4-10 cm, and the rounded end is provided with polishing agent. Here, the transition from the end of the cylinder to the curved surface is usually designed to be gradual or circular, so that the polishing can achieve the desired effect.

The repair kit of the present invention also includes at least two markers (4A) and (4B). The marker pens respectively comprise (4.1) a reservoir having an opening, (4.2) a valve that can be placed on the opening of the reservoir from (4.1) to close the opening of the reservoir, and (4.3) a marker tip.

Here, the reservoir has, for example, a cylindrical shape known from marker pens or sticks, wherein one end is permanently closed and the second end is open, whereby it can be used for filling paint. The typical capacity of the reservoir is 3-15 ml.

A valve or pressure valve may be located on the opening of the reservoir, thereby closing the opening. Appropriate pressure can be applied reversibly to open the valve and the paint can be expelled.

There is a connection between the marker nib and the valve, for example by means of a cap sleeve known per se or in the form of a part of said sleeve, so that the pressure exerted on the nib is transmitted to the valve and the paint is delivered through the opening of the valve into the tip of the marker. Pressure is typically applied to the marker tip by bringing the tip into contact with the damaged area to be repaired and then manually pressing the tip against the surface of the damaged area.

The marker tip is designed so that the paint delivered to the marker tip can pass through the tip and transfer to the damaged area that needs to be repaired. For this purpose, the marking tip is made, for example, from a foam or felt material that absorbs and thus absorbs paint. Then, as already described above, the pen tip is pressed against the surface of the damaged area, causing the paint to transfer to the surface depending on the pressure applied and the time for which the pressure is applied. The tip can be set to various line widths, depending on the intended use of the marker (retouching larger areas or only small localized areas).

Preferably, the marker furthermore comprises a cover which can be arranged on the marker tip and in this case covers the tip protectively, and preferably all other parts of the marker are also located outside the reservoir. Drying out of the paint in the nib material or in the marker nib is thus prevented or delayed.

These marker systems are known in principle and are marketed, for example, as text markers or permanent markers in the stationary industry or according to the needs of manual work. Due to the paint in the marker (4B) (the material will be described in more detail in the subsequent steps below), it is preferred that the marker (4B) consists of a material that is opaque to UV light, and/or has at least one UV-opaque layer of light so that the paint present in the marker cannot be exposed to any UV light. Thus, the UV light radiation content of sunlight is prevented from having any effect on the paint.

The paint providing color and/or special effects can be one of the paints known in principle for this purpose, namely basecoats in particular for automotive refinish paint systems. These coatings can be one-component coatings or multi-component coatings.

The formulation of the coating can be water-based or organic solvent-based.

They generally contain at least one polymer as a binder, ie at least one of the following materials known per se: random, alternating and/or block types of ethylenically unsaturated monomers, linear and/or branched and/or Comb (co)polymers, or polyaddition resins and/or polycondensation resins. These polymers may be UV curable. Preferably, however, they are thermally curable together with paints that provide color and/or special effects. This means that crosslinking (coating film formation) can be carried out by chemical reactions of reactive functional groups known per se, wherein the energy for activating these chemical reactions can be provided by thermal energy. For this purpose, for example, crosslinking agents known per se can also be used. In each case, however, these coatings can be physically cured at least to some extent by use of appropriate binders (i.e. coatings made from coatings are (also) achieved by film formation caused by loss of solvent from the coatings , where cross-linking within the coating occurs through the formation of polymer molecular rings).

Furthermore, the coating contains at least one pigment that provides color and/or special effects. These pigments are numerous and widely available and do not require any more detailed description.

Other typical components of coatings are additives known per se, such as wetting and dispersing agents, emulsifiers, leveling aids, solubilizers, defoamers, stabilizers (including thermal stabilizers, processing stabilizers and UV and/or light stabilizers), air release agents, inhibitors, catalysts and/or tougheners.

For the purposes of the present invention, preferably, the at least one color and/or special effect providing paint corresponds in terms of perceived color and/or special effect to the initial hue of the initial paint system to be repaired. Thus, it is possible to envisage a kit of The tint of the car's original color (ie, the perceived color and/or the perceived special effects) is obtained. In particular, in this regard, it is useful to equip the kit with a paint with which the color tone of a typical automobile sold in large quantities can be reproduced during refinishing. At this point, the greatest advantage is that the paint providing color and/or special effects and filled into the marker (4A) and used for refinishing can be formulated and produced intensively and uniformly. In particular, in a proper refinish shop, there is now no need for complex, case-related blending and color matching. Therefore, after months or years of use (weathering), there is now also no need to individually match the tint to the actual tint of the vehicle. However, the overall effect of matching the initial shade evenly and precisely is to achieve a quality of color matching sufficient for cosmetic retouching requirements. This is especially the case for vehicles that are used for a shorter period of time, such as those that arise during de-plating.

For the clearcoat in the marker pen (B), the above descriptions apply with respect to the formulation ingredients that are essentially present. However, clear coatings are always UV curable coatings. The coatings thus have UV-curable components, ie UV-curable oligomers and/or polymers in particular as binders. Examples of suitable binder components are the known unsaturated esters, epoxy resins, urethanes and/or siloxanes which have carbon-carbon double bonds, for example in terminal and/or pendant groups. Suitable groups are in particular acrylic and/or methacrylic groups. Preferably, the at least one UV-curable oligomer and/or polymer is a urethane (another term used is urethane) additionally having acrylic and/or methacrylic groups (meth)acrylate). Preferably, the UV-curable oligomers and/or polymers, especially the urethane (meth)acrylates, are aliphatic. Groups with carbon-carbon double bonds are in principle stable. However, incident high-energy radiation (UV radiation in this case, in combination with additionally used UV photoinitiators, if appropriate) can initiate reaction cascades by way of free radical formation, resulting in very high levels of cross-linking. Union and thus hardening.

In this regard, it is also possible to use known reactive diluents, ie generally monomeric compounds with functional groups containing at least two carbon-carbon double bonds, which in principle serve as solvents, but which also participate under UV light irradiation. The curing and cross-linking process described.

Due to their crosslinking chemistry and instability in the presence of water, these coatings are generally anhydrous, ie based on organic solvents. These organic solvents are, for example, the reactive diluents described above in combination with other solvents which are inert to UV radiation and are used, for example, for viscosity adjustment. After application of the coating and during or even before hardening and crosslinking, these materials are removed from the coating film by an evaporation process.

Since this is a clear coating, it is of course completely or substantially free of pigments providing color and/or special effects, preferably completely free of said pigments. It contains at most an amount of pigment which does not affect the basic transparency of the layer made of the material providing the color and/or special effect to such an extent that the underlying layer of the material is no longer visible. However, it is possible that there is a small degree of coloration whereby a specific coloring effect (pigmented clear coat) can be achieved.

Thus, the UV-curable clearcoat preferably comprises at least one UV-curable oligomer and/or polymer as binder, at least one photoinitiator and at least one organic solvent. It is further preferred that the material additionally comprises at least one UV stabilizer and/or light stabilizer, which reduces the penetration of suitable radiation onto the coating provided below the clearcoat, thereby contributing to the stability of the refinish coating system .

In addition, the kit of the present invention comprises means for curing the above-mentioned clearcoats by irradiation with UV light. These appliances are commercially available. In particular, they are the well-known UV lamps or LED lamps, which also have UV light in the spectrum of the light they emit. Preferably, the UV light used for curing is UV-A radiation.

Preferably, the kit of the present invention further comprises means (6) intended for removing excess paint applied during repair. This can be one of the appliances described above as component (3), wherein these appliances are in principle also suitable for the operations mentioned in the preceding sentence. However, other implements may also be used which are intended to be used specifically to remove paint on and at areas where repairs have been completed, and are different from implement (3). In particular, this is sandpaper with a grit number P1500-P3000, or a knife/blade. With the aid of these implements ( 6 ), a particularly successful material removal can then be achieved by rubbing or shaving, ie removing material by rubbing or shaving, without causing further damage to the repaired area.

The present invention also provides a method of repairing an automotive paint system using the repair kit of the present invention. Of course, with regard to the method of the present invention, all the preferred embodiments described above for the components used in the kits also apply.

The method begins with (i) applying a cleaner (1) to a damaged area in an automotive paint system in need of repair.

This is followed by (ii), with the aid of a cleaning cloth (2) absorbing the applied cleaning agent (1) and any contamination present on the damaged area that needs to be repaired.

This is followed by (iii) roughening the damaged area in need of repair with the aid of implement (3) and mechanically removing any loose paint present in and/or on the damaged area.

This is followed by (iv A), applying a paint providing color and/or special effects to the damaged area to be repaired with the aid of a marker (4A) and air drying the applied paint. Application is accomplished by pressing a marker or the tip of a marker against the damaged area to be repaired. The mechanism for transferring or applying a coating to a surface in need of repair has been fully described earlier above.

The paint is then air-dried. This means that the organic solvent and/or water present in the coating is evaporated or allowed to evaporate for a time of eg 0.5-30 minutes, mostly at ambient temperature (ie room temperature), eg 15-35°C. Thus, the organic solvent and/or water present in the applied coating evaporates during air drying. Since the paint is always flowable immediately after application and as it begins to air dry, it can flow during air drying. In particular, it is flowable due to the presence of organic solvents and/or water, and thus flowable to form a uniform, smooth coating film. At the same time, the organic solvent and/or water gradually evaporate, so the air-drying stage results in a smoother coating containing less water and/or solvent than the applied coating composition. However, after air drying, the coating is not yet in a ready-to-use state. Although, for example, it is no longer flowable, it is still soft and may sometimes dry to a small extent. However, this provides a surface suitable for overcoating with a clearcoat. In particular, the coating has not yet cured as described in the later steps below.

This is followed by (iv B) application of a UV-curable clear coating by means of a marker (4B) to the applied coating providing colour and/or special effects; and (v) irradiation with UV light by means of a device (5) Hardens the applied clearcoat.

Application of the clearcoat can be accomplished by methods similar to those described above for coatings that provide color and/or special effects. The applied clearcoat can then be air-dried in a manner similar to that described above. Afterwards, however, the clearcoat is cured (chemical crosslinking) by means of the tool (5).

This hardening can be achieved, for example, by brief operation of the appliance (5), in particular the lamp, which is held at a distance of about 5-30 cm above the applied clearcoat, eg within 0.5-5 minutes.

The clearcoat is then cured; thus there is a cured clearcoat.

Curing thus means converting a layer of coating into a ready-to-use state, ie a state in which the substrate with the corresponding coating can be used correctly. Thus, in particular, the cured layer of the coating is no longer soft or tacky, but is a fully processed coating film with no further substantiality in properties such as hardness or adhesion to the substrate even when further exposed to appropriate curing conditions sexual changes.

During said curing process, the paint providing color and/or special effects also cures or at least transitions to a dry state, so that the overall result (ie, including the clear coat thereon) is fully repairable for proper use The substrate, since the energy introduced by the radiation of the device (5), after being converted into heat, also contributes to the physical and/or chemical (thermal) curing of the paint providing color and/or special effects. As long as the paint providing the color and/or special effect is also UV curable, this property itself obviously leads to the curing of the material.

Thereafter, if appropriate, the above-mentioned excess paint is subsequently removed by means of the device (6).

The kit of the present invention and the method of the present invention provide a possible method which on the one hand does not require very time-consuming and expensive expert repair steps with high material usage, while on the other hand ensures repair results of acceptable quality.

Claims (11)

1. A repair kit for automotive paint systems comprising: (1) at least one cleaning agent for application to damaged areas in automotive paint systems requiring repair, (2) at least one cleaning cloth for absorbing the cleaning agent from (1) and any contamination present on the damaged area to be repaired, (3) at least one appliance for roughening the damaged area in need of repair and for mechanically removing loose paint in and/or on the damaged area, (4A) and (4B) at least two marker pens, each comprising: (4.1) A liquid storage box with an opening, (4.2) a valve that may be provided on the opening of the reservoir from (4.1) so as to close the opening of the reservoir, and (4.3) Mark the nib, in: the reservoir contains paint, The valve can be opened reversibly by applying pressure, allowing paint to be drained from the reservoir, there is a connection between the marker tip and the valve such that the pressure exerted on the marker tip is transferred to the valve and paint can be delivered into the marker tip through the opening of the valve, and The marker tip is designed so that the paint delivered into the marker tip can pass through the tip and transfer to the damaged area that needs to be repaired, wherein the marker (4A) additionally comprises a paint providing color and/or special effects, and the marker (4B) comprises a UV-curable clear paint, and (5) At least one device for hardening the clearcoat from (4) by UV light irradiation. 2. Repair kit according to claim 1, wherein sandpaper and/or polishing sticks are used as implements (3). 3. Repair kit according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the marking tip (4.3) is made of foam or felt. 4. Repair kit according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the at least one marking pen (4B) consists of a material that is opaque to UV light and/or has at least one that is opaque to UV light and ensures Layers of paint present in markers that cannot be exposed to UV light. 5. The repair kit according to any one of claims 1-4, wherein the kit comprises at least one marker (4A) comprising paint providing colour and/or special effects, and After the paint is applied to the surface, the tint of the car's original color (ie, the perceived color and/or the perceived special effects) is obtained. 6. Repair kit according to claim 5, wherein said kit comprises at least five, preferably at least ten marker pens (4A), said markers respectively comprising paints providing colour and/or special effects, and After the paint is applied to the surface, the tint of the original color of the car (ie the perceived color and/or the perceived special effects) is obtained. 7. The repair kit of any one of claims 1-6, wherein the clearcoat comprises at least one UV-curable oligomer and/or polymer as binder, at least one photoinitiator and at least one organic solvent and at least one UV stabilizer and/or light stabilizer. 8. Repair kit according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the kit further comprises at least one appliance (6) which is different from the respectively selected appliance (3) and is intended to be Used to remove excess paint applied during refinishing. 9. A repair kit according to any of claims 1-8, wherein the components of the kit are stored in separate storage units, such as boxes, and thus remain available for use in a repair method. 10. A method of repairing an automotive paint system using the repair kit of claim 1, comprising the steps of: (i) applying the cleaner (1) to the damaged area in the automotive paint system to be repaired, (ii) suck up the applied cleaning agent (1) and any contamination present on the damaged area to be repaired by means of a cleaning cloth (2), (iii) roughening the damaged area to be repaired by means of the appliance (3) and mechanically removing any loose paint present in and/or on the damaged area, (ivA) applying a paint providing color and/or special effects to the damaged area to be repaired with the aid of a marker (4A) and air drying the applied paint, (ivB) applying the UV-curable clear coat with the aid of a marker (4B) to the applied paint providing color and/or special effects, and (v) The applied clearcoat is hardened by means of UV light irradiation with the aid of the tool (5). 11. An automotive paint system refinished by the method of claim 10.